I saw a post on Facebook, yesterday, from a church we attended when we lived in Mississippi. The children's minister posted 5 pictures of different children winning Kindle Fires on Easter Sunday. This church has several weekend services, including a Saturday night crowd, so I assumed there was 1-2 prizes given away in each service. When we started at this church, it was in the beginning phases of becoming a community-style church. It only had 1 service, and though they were following several trends of other mega churches, they weren't yet a "mega church." The Lord has blessed them and multiplied their flock, which is truly wonderful.
However, here are my thoughts on those pictures.
1.) What is a CHILD going to do with a Kindle Fire?! The children's ministry, there, serves the 1st-5th grades. Even if only 5th graders were given the opportunity to win this tiny tablet, what real purpose would those 5th graders have for owning a Kindle Fire?
2.) The cost of each device, times 5, is about $1,000.00, depending on where/when they were purchased. Why not pick 5 visiting families at random and offer to buy a week's worth of groceries for them, instead? Better yet, find five truly needy families and buy them some groceries. Or take the entire amount, choose one family, buy their groceries, and pay a few of their bills for the month!Wouldn't that be more beneficial, in the long run, than the Kindle?
3.) My husband and I worked at a church plant for several years, so I get the fact that churches see a huge increase in attendance at their annual Easter and Christmas services. I have seen this happen with my own eyes. Pastors will often change certain things about their services, put in a special song or two, or offer some other incentive for visitors to darken their doors on Easter Sunday. Most of the time, this works. People get the prize, go home feeling pretty good about their morning, and might even come back a few times. But, like I've seen just as often, if the person came for the prize, pretty soon they'll quit coming if the church stops giving prizes.
I think, of all these points, the one that makes me most upset is the last one. What a ruse! I would definitely be turned off from church if they sold me something that wasn't real. Even if the music was a little different, or the speaker wasn't the lead pastor, I would be upset, too, and I probably wouldn't want to come back for a while, either. Chances are, those who don't regularly attend church are either non-believers, or people who have been hurt by the church. I think it's such a disservice to them to think they can be bought by a few freebies and some cool "Easter changes." They've seen through all the other area churches that had "something to offer." What makes this particular church think they won't see through them, as well?
Unless they're giving away Kindle Fires to elementary schoolers, every Sunday, in which case that is a completely different issue, all together.
Don't get me wrong, I like a little change, now and then. I don't want to attend a church, week after week, and be able to predict every little thing that's going to happen. But I think these bigger, community-style churches tend to bait their congregation, all in the name of staying "relevant," "current," or "up and coming."
What is more Relevant, Current, or Up and Coming than The Word of God? Why do Christians, lead Pastors, and Congregations feel they need to add all this "fluff" to make it more appealing?
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